Menon makes unscheduled visit to Dhaka

Dhaka: National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon today visited the Bangladesh capital on an unscheduled tour, the second in five days to review the last-minute preparedness ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s visit next week.

Official sources said Menon was in Dhaka for a few hours to review the latest developments linked to Singh`s September 6-7 tour.

The source said, Menon represented the Indian Water Resource Minister P K Bansal in the meeting with Sen whose counterpart was expected in Dhaka ahead of Singh`s visit as Dhaka and New Delhi are set to ink a deal on sharing of waters of Teesta river coinciding with the meeting between the two Prime Ministers.

Earlier, the NSA had come to Dhaka on August 28 on a two day tour and held extensive talks with Bangladesh leaders, including Hasina to fine tune agreements, MoUs and protocols that were expected to be signed during Singh`s visit. The issues discussed included connectivity, trade, power, border, water, security and culture.

In related development, Indian security officials today held extensive meetings with their Bangladesh counterparts at the Prime Minister`s office on issues related to Singh`s security during his tour, officials said.

"They held long meetings and reviewed the security arrangements," an Indian High Commission spokesman told PTI.